Because I Love You
by September J. Song
Summary: A Lily and James oneshot  for now   Lily accepts James's invitation to go to Hogsmeade and Snape is furious.


_**Hello, everyone! I have been writing more of After Oz but I'm just too lazy to post it. Perhaps I will, after I upload this. This is just a little Lily and James fanfic I have been working on. I may write more, if people really want me too, but as of now, it is a oneshot. **_

_**Remember, I love reviews and such! They make me happy and in return, I will give out free James-hugs to anyone who reviews!**_

_**Thanks for taking the time to read this!**_

_**-BrisaAkiko**  
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><p><em>Dear Lilyflower,<em>

_Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?_

_Love, James_

I looked down the table to see Potter grinning at me. I hastily scrawled something down on the parchment with Marlene McKinnon's quill. I reattached it to Potter's owl and sent him off.

_Dear Potter,_

_Rot in hell._

_Lots of Love, LILY_

Potter read the parchment eagerly, and then his face fell. I had to give the git credit, he was good at puppy faces.  
>Black said something to Potter and wrote something down on the parchment. The owl took off again.<p>

_What about me?_

I borrowed Marlene's quill again.

_Rot with Potter._

Black grinned and blew me a kiss. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"They are going to be the death of me," I muttered to Marlene.

"I don't know," she replied, staring at Black dreamily. "I think they're adorable."

I slapped her lightly on the back of the head.

"Ow!" she complained.

"Marley! This is Potter we're talking about! He tormented me and-" I stopped mid sentence. I looked over at the Slytherin table. Severus sat amid his Slytherin friends. He caught me staring and waved hopefully. I turned away.

"Lily," Marlene said, her voice softening. "It's time to move on! Snape is a dungbag! He called you a... you-know-what!"

"I know... I know..."

"Move on! Get a boyfriend!" she nudged me playfully, "Share a butterbeer."

"Eew!" I squealed, "With Potter?"

"Come on, Lily. He's not that bad," Alice said from my other side. "Sure, he was a git for most of his life, but people can change."

"Potter? Change?" I scoffed. "That will happen when Black picks up a book."

I think Potter heard me, because he forced Black to take the book Remus was holding. He pointed at Black hopefully. Then, Peter tried to help by pointing too, but he ended up just spilling Potter's pumpkin juice, all over his letter.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. Go out with that."

James sighed, and began to try to clean up the mess Peter had made. Black was laughing his head off and Remus was rolling his eyes.

Gits, the lot of them.

* * *

><p>Potions.<p>

I would rather face a lot of Cornish pixies than be partnered up with Potter again. Slughorn always seemed to try to pair us up, and it annoyed me to no end. But I couldn't exactly avoid him by partnering up with Severus anymore. As I entered the nearly filled classroom, I saw Severus trying to push through the crowd to talk to me.

"Lily! Hey, Lily!"

"I don't want to talk to you," I replied coldly.

"Lily, look, I'm sorry!" he begged. I looked at him.

"You called me a mudblood," I said sadly. He flinched.

"Lily, you know I didn't mean it. I don't know-"

"Sev. I wish things could go back to the way they once were, but they can't. So... move on," I said softly, trying to hold back tears. Severus look stunned, and as I walked away, just stood there.

"Alright class!" Professor Slughorn said merrily, "Lets get started."

I was partnered up with Potter, as usual, but oddly, he didn't try to flirt with me. When I accidentally caused my potion to overflow (because I was distracted) he asked me something.

"Lily?"

"What?" I snapped, trying to mop up the overflow with my sleeve.

"Are you alright?" I stopped trying to clean it up. This simple question, somehow, made me wonder. Maybe he did really care about me. Maybe James really had changed.

"No," I admitted. "Not really."

"Snivell- Snape?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," I said.

"Oh, alright," he said, then he grinned. "You know what would make you feel better?"

I looked at him warily. "What?"

"Being my date at Hogsmeade."

I laughed and he joined in. It was a nice laugh, when he wasn't laughing at someone's expense.

"So does that mean yes?" he asked hopefully, hitting me with those puppy dog eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

He grinned. "Great! Um... Okay then."

"Okay." We turned back to our potion. I ordered James to clean up the mess as I went to fetch a few materials from Slughorn's cabinet. When Severus caught sight of me, he got up and followed me.

"What was that?" he hissed.

"What?" I whispered back.

"You're going out with Potter?" he demanded.

"I can do what I want," I snapped. "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

He looked briefly hurt and I felt my face soften.

"Look. I know you don't like James, but I think he's changed."

"Lily. Listen to yourself! Potter, change?"

"At least James didn't call me a mudblood."

"Lily! Since when are you two on a first name basis?"

"Just go away!" I snapped. "We aren't friends anymore!"

He looked injured and I could hardly stop from crying. I ran out of the room, ignoring Professor Slughorn's call for me to come back.

* * *

><p>I sat down next to a statue of the one-eyed witch. I pulled my knees up to my chest and sobbed, tears stinging my eyes.<p>

"Lily?" I quickly wiped my tears away. I knew that voice.

"Go away," I said through my tears. James sat down next to me. "I don't want to talk."

"Alright," he said. We sat in silence.

"Why do you care?" I said after a while.

"About what?"

"Me. Me being here. We'll both get detention, you know."

"I dunno," he mused to himself.

"Well, I suppose you've never really cared about detentions anyway."

"Despite what you think, we never really got into detention. Much," he said, smirking.

"Why? Teachers favour you?"

"No. We just never got caught." I laughed and he smiled a dazzling smile.

I leaned back onto the statue of the one-eyed witch and sighed.

"And," James added. "I care because... because... I love you."


End file.
